Filed by Emmanuel Eumu.
Ms. Loyce Anyodo the assistant nursing officer at Kaberamaido General Hospital says that the entire staff is in shock about the incident.
Kaberamaido hospital staff searching for the stolen baby in the hospital compound.
Kaberamaido- police in Kaberamaido Central police station are investigating the incident where one baby girl was reportedly stolen from Maternity ward in Kaberamaido General Hospital.
The stolen baby belongs to Regin Ayoko aged 24, a resident of Onyati village,kamuk parish, Kaberamaido sub county in Kaberamaido district who had just given birth from the hospital.
According to one of the attendant Ms Ailo Ruth, she was attending to Ms Ayoko Regina, They came the hospital at 6:00 am of Wednesday morning where they were rushed to the labor suit since her patient was in critical shape. They where received by the mid wife on duty who sent her out to prepare tea for her patient who was in the labor suit.
Ailo further narrates that after a duration of one hour, successfully gave birth to a baby girl weighing 3 kilograms, she then took the mother to the bed for a rest and later the mid wife brought the baby and was put next to her in the same bed. She was further sent out to pour the blood discharge.
“as I went out carrying a basin of blood stain and later proceeded to collect the tea that was boiling, I left the mother together with her baby on the bed, on my return to the ward, I saw a strange woman standing next to the bed of my patient, she instructed me to take the baby for immunization but I responded to her that it could be done at the later time,” she narrated.
“i took out the cups we had used for taking tea, I returned inside and found the child missing including the woman who came around asking me about the immunization of the baby,” she added.
According to Regin Ayoko the boby’s mother, she was sleeping together with her baby, but her legs where dirty since she had just come from the labor suit where she gave birth around 07:40.
“The women came in the ward and commanded me to go and wash my legs out side, my attendant came out to me and notified me that the baby went missing together with the woman who stood next to my bed” she said.
Ms. Loyce Anyodo the assistant nursing officer at Kaberamaido General Hospital says that the entire staff is in shock about the incident.
“I have worked in Kaberamaido Hospital for 23 years now without such kind of incident happening but these one caught me unprepared which is unfortunate, carrying a child for 9 months is something which is not easy and someone comes to take freely like that it’s not good at all I pray that the child is recovered,” she said.
Maternity ward of Kaberamaido general hospital.
Dr. Eric Auna the medical superintendent of the hospital said that the community has the mentality of having more than one attendant caring for one patient and this sometimes confuses them on who is the right person.
“The ward gets overwhelmed with people at night and when you go for night duty you will not get the space to pass through, as a hospital administration we now ask the attendants to limit their number to one or two attendant who will be registered by our security team,” he said.
ASP Ritah Nantaba the OC Station for Kaberamaido Central Police station, they have registered the and have begun serious investigations to recover the baby and the kidnapper.
“We have opened the case of child stealing under SD REF; 30/24/08/2023, we also caution the public to be very vigilant especially those in hospital units. Don’t allow any strange person to stand next to your child. We also urge the public to highly cooperate with police to recover the baby,” she said.
According to the penal code act of Uganda, the penalty for such an offense is 10 years or imprisonment.